“You need to be able to stand up for what’s important to you,” a 12-year-old Mohawk girl is told in “Beans.” Tracey Deer’s coming-of-age drama tells the story of Tekehentahkhwa, AKA Beans (Kiawentiio), a sensitive pre-teen who is struggling to speak up for herself. Beans wants to attend a private school off the reserve she lives on, a plan that her mother is much more supportive of than her father, who is skeptical that a school full of white kids is the best environment for her. Already on the brink of major change, Beans’ life takes a dramatic turn when her community becomes under attack, inspiring her to seek out ways of toughening up.
Like most coming-of-age stories, there’s a universality about “Beans,” but what sets it apart is its cultural and historical specificity. The film is set during the Oka Crisis. Spanning 78 days in 1990, the dispute saw Mohawk protestors, Quebec police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Canadian Army coming to a standoff over the proposed expansion of a golf course and development of townhouses on land that included a sacred Mohawk burial ground.
“‘Beans’ is very much inspired by my own coming-of-age journey,” Deer told us. “I was 12 years old when I lived through the Oka Crisis and it had a profound impact on my identity as an Indigenous woman. I drew both positive lessons about the importance of standing up for what you believe in and learned firsthand about the incredible resilience of my people — but I also learned that the world was a dangerous place because of my difference.”
Canada’s historical and current mistreatment of Indigenous people is finally getting more national — and international — media attention. Newly discovered mass graves brought increased awareness to residential schools and the government’s mass murder of Indigenous people. “Beans” is made by a Mohawk woman and about a Mohawk family set during an important chapter of Canadian history. Another film slated for release this month, Danis Goulet’s “Night Raiders,” is a dystopian sci-fi inspired by residential schools that’s by a Cree woman and about a Cree family. Besides being thoughtful and engaging films in their own right, both “Beans” and “Night Raiders” will also help spark much-needed dialogue about Canadian history, identity, and racism at home and abroad.
“Beans” is now in theaters and virtual cinemas, and available on VOD. Find screening info here.
